Jets, Aaron Glenn roasted by soon-to-be Hall-of-Famer

When you have the longest active playoff drought in major North American professional sports, people are going to associate you with losing.

And that’s why the Jets, and new coach Aaron Glenn, caught a major stray this week when former Vikings star Jared Allen met with the media in Minnesota for the first time after being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The conversation seemed innocent enough: Allen was talking about how close the Vikings have been to the top of the league in recent years, even though they haven’t been to the Super Bowl since 1977. And then, out of nowhere, he verbally suplexed the Jets.

“We’re close. ... We’ve been close for a long time,” Allen said of his former team. “The next hurdle in the Vikings organization is, ‘How do we get there?’ And that’s just the truth. But the reality is, too, only one team gets there every year. Right? I’d rather be close than, freaking ... who sucks? The Jets? Oh, gosh. Being the Jets would be miserable right now. I just can’t believe anybody took that job. Ahh. Whoa, rough one."

Jets fans on social media were quick to point out that former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez had more success in two seasons than the Vikings have in multiple decades. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Vikings (and every other team in the NFL) have been back to the playoffs since the last time the Jets made it.

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And that no team has been consistently worse over the last 14 years than the Jets, who have not only found a way to lose, but found a way to be spectacularly dysfunctional while doing it, in an era of parity under the salary cap where teams seem to accidentally get good and make the postseason.

Glenn came to the Jets to change all of that, in part because he’s been here before. He understands the challenge in front of the Jets. That’s why he took the job.

But even knowing the extent of the negativity he must overcome, Allen’s comments just drive home the fact how pervasive the derision of the Jets has become. From brutal jokes on the feel-good HBO show “Ted Lasso” to Hall of Famers taking cheap shots in press conferences long after their playing career is over, everyone is watching to see if things willbe different for the Jets this year.

And it will be interesting to see if or how that weighs on Glenn, who seemed far more relaxed at his opening press conference in January than he did during his tight-lipped, low-information interview session last week at the NFL Combine.

One thing we know for sure: If they keep losing, the strays like the one they caught from Allen, aren’t going to stop.

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Andy Vasquez may be reached at avasquez@njadvancemedia.com.